Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya, with a population of over one-million residents. A regional cultural and economic hub, the city has a large port and an international airport and is an important regional tourism centre. Mombasa Island itself may not be the main tourism attraction, other tourists locations are in the north and south of Mombasa. The city continues to grow rapidly primarily fuelled by migration due to economic activities. While relatively well connected to the North and West through car bridges, the city’s sole connection to the South is a ferry service. Every day, 300,000+ commuters travel between Likoni on the mainland and Mombasa island causing significant congestions in the peak travelling hours.

The ferry service is a critical part of the city’s transport system but is also faced with a number of challenges including: Pressure is exerted to the existing resources especially during peak times which may result to lost man hours. During these times, long vehicle queues may be experienced;While the landing ramps have been expanded, the existing roads connecting to the ramps (ramp approaches) remain narrow making traffic management capability limits the number of ferries that can load and offload simultaneously; Ships entering and leaving the port of Mombasa create logistical challenges by disrupting Ferry movements across the channel;Over the years, both human and vehicle traffic using the Ferry service have been increasing exponentially. This has continued to exert pressure on the existing resources.

Mombasa being a key region of Kenya continues to attract additional key investments. There are plans to upgrade the area by:

Expansion of the Mombasa port it is expected to increase cargo volume by 400 per cent from the current 20 million tons handled at the facility annually;

Creation of a Vision 2030 Special Economic Zone Mombasa modelled on Shenzen will have about 9 million people working and living in the zone;

One of the Resort cities under vision 2030 will be in South Coast as a part of government efforts to double the tourist arrivals to three million visitors annually;

Under Vision 2030 Second Medium Term (2013-1017) deliverables in the area of Improvement of Shipping and Maritime facilities (section 3.1.3), modernization of ferry services to increase passenger capacity is explicitly mentioned. The Likoni Cable Express may be considered as part realization of that aspect of the Vision.

The Sh5.8 billion Likoni Cable Cars project, which has been approved, will take at least 18 months t...

Quick facts on the LCE

Likoni Cable Express system solution summary

1

Cruise speed

7.5 m/s

2

Capacity per hr and direction

5500 Pax

3

Length

~ 1372m horizontally

4

Number of cabins

~ 22

5

Journey time

~ 2 minutes 55 seconds

6

Height & number of towers

~ 90 m on one side and 85m on the other side of the channel (a total of 2 towers)

7

Clearance over water

The clearance height of the towers even when accounting for sag of the cable line (80m) is sufficient to allow the largest cargo and cruise ships to pass below and is the same clearance as used for the port of Hamburg, one of the busiest commercial ports in the world.

Likoni Cable Car agreement Signing Videos

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Public views on the LCE

Public views

When I first read about the cable cars at the Likoni ferry, I thought this was a late April fools joke but now it seems someone is lobbying very hard to have it implemented or why would BD publish it twice.The answer to our traffic problem lies in changing the question from how to move vehicles faster to how to move people faster.

Kijani 2014

Cable car systems use very little power. For example, a system moving 11,000 commuters per hour over 5km uses 400Kw (equivalent to 3 no. 3-litre Toyota Landcruiser engines.) Clearly appropriate back up power back up generators will not be an issue. The total power required for the 30Km Nairobi Phase 1 lines is under 4MW.

Constant Cap

About LCE

The Likoni Cable Express will be a state-of-the-art multi-gondola cable car system connecting either side of the Likoni channel crossing. This innovative passenger transport solution will operate seven days a week with a journey time of under 3 minutes.

About LCE

The Likoni Cable Express will be a state-of-the-art multi-gondola cable car system connecting either side of the Likoni channel crossing. This innovative passenger transport solution will operate seven days a week with a journey time of under 3 minutes.